Free Republic

PARIS — Once the world's most-wanted fugitive, the political terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal appeared in a French court Monday over a deadly 1974 attack at a Paris shopping arcade. The Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez is accused of throwing a hand grenade from a mezzanine restaurant into a shopping area in the the Latin Quarter of Paris. Two people were killed and 34 injured. The 67-year-old is already serving a life sentence in France for a series of murders and attacks he has been convicted of perpetrating or organizing in the country on behalf of the Palestinian cause in...

A key source of Venezuelan socialist leader Nicolas Maduro’s headaches may be traced to – wait for it – a Home Depot store in Alabama. That is where Gustavo Diaz earns his living, guiding customers on matters of shelving and how to select the right screw size. But on his lunch break, and during virtually every spare, non-working moment, Diaz figuratively sheds his orange apron and dons his superhero cape, waging war against the Maduro government. His weapons? A wildly popular website named DolarToday.com, and a Twitter account that has surpassed 2 million followers. Diaz, a 60-year-old retired colonel in...

Eight of 10 items unavailable in stores in the socialist paradise Good news: Nicolas Maduro will never be president of the United States. Bad news: It hardly matters, because neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders quite understands what’s gone wrong with the Chavista revolution in Venezuela. Things are now so bad in the socialist paradise where Maduro haplessly presides, Venezuelans have more or less given up looking for basic goods in stores. You can’t find them there. Eight out of 10 items people need are unavailable. So they’ve taken to going on social media and asking pretty much anyone who...

Venezuela is really feeling the pinch from sliding oil prices. Now its bonds are in such bad shape that some investors are treating the country’s default as a near certainty. And they are taking action. How? Well certain banks have started to offer swap contracts that allow investors to fix the amount they can recover on insurance bought against a restructuring of the country’s debt, according to investors. If CDS contracts are triggered, the cheapest Venezuelan bonds trading in the market at that time will be used to determine payouts to protection holders. Those not wanting to take any chances...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya accused the United States of being behind the 2009 coup that ousted him, in a letter released Monday on the first anniversary of his ouster. Zelaya, who now lives in the Dominican Republic, has given conflicting accounts on what role the United States allegedly played in the coup, in which Honduran soldiers hustled him out of the country on June 28, 2009.<> He has alternately praised the policy of the U.S. government on the issue, and criticized Washington for not pressing harder for his reinstatement. But Monday's letter said flatly: "What we...

The Obama administration has moved to kick two Venezuelan diplomats out of the United States in response to Venezuela’s expulsion last week of two U.S. officials from the U.S. embassy in Caracas, The Washington Times has learned. In a sign that U.S.-Venezuelan relations are unlikely to warm quickly in the post-Chavez era, the Venezuelan government confirmed that two of its diplomats have left the U.S., a State Department spokesman told The Times. One of the diplomats had apparently been based at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, while the other worked at a Venezuelan office in New York.

NOTE The following text is a quote: Extradited Hacker Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Masterminding First-Ever Hack Into Internet Phone Networks Defendant Also Ordered to Pay Over $1 Million in Restitution NEWARK, NJ—The first individual ever charged with hacking into the networks of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers and reselling hacked VoIP services for a profit was sentenced today to 120 months in prison, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Edwin Andres Pena, 27, transmitted over 10 million minutes of unauthorized telephone calls over the victims' networks. Pena, a Venezuelan citizen, fled the United States...

CARACAS, VENEZUELA (BNO NEWS) – A Venezuelan farmer died on Monday after 8 hunger strikes and six years of protest against President Hugo Chavez and his government’s land policies, Globovision Television reported on Tuesday. Franklin Brito, 49, died at the Military Hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, where he had been secluded against his will for four months. Ten days ago, Brito’s body began to collapse and on late Monday he passed away. Brito began his fight against the Chavez’ administration six years ago. During this period he endured eight hunger strikes, a mutilated finger and being victim of an irregular captivity....

...Shortly after midnight on July 16, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez reached back in time. He presided at the exhumation of the remains of Simón Bolívar -- Latin America's greatest independence hero, who helped liberate the region from Spain in the 19th century, and the object of Chávez's personal and political obsession.... By presidential decree, every television station in Venezuela showed images of Bolívar in historic paintings, then images of the skeleton, and then images of Chávez, with the national anthem blaring. The message of this macabre parody was unmistakable: Chávez is not a follower of Bolívar -- Chávez is Bolívar,...

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt blew nearly $560,000 in campaign cash last year - much of it on lavish meals and a family-friendly payroll that includes his ex-wife, son-in-law and daughter - stoking speculation the Quincy Democrat is emptying his war chest and won’t seek re-election. -snip- Delahunt told the Herald last week that he was still weighing whether to seek re-election, but Democratic Party sources have privately indicated his departure is anticipated - and expected to draw a host of candidates-in-waiting out of the woodwork.

DAMASCUS, Syria – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attacked Israel Thursday during his visit to Syria, calling it an imperialist nation that annihilates other people. ... "Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters. In comments carried by Venezuelan state television, he also accused Israel of being part of imperialist efforts to divide the Middle East. "The entire world knows it. Why was the state of Israel created? ... To divide. To impede the unity of the Arab world. To assure the presence of...

LEFTIST leaders from Venezuela and Ecuador thundered against a US military presence in Latin America today, warning the "winds of war" were blowing across the increasingly polarised continent. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led the charge, attacking Colombia's decision to host American forces at seven of its bases, a move also condemned by Chavez's Ecuadoran counterpart and ally Rafael Correa during the inauguration of his second term. Speaking in Quito, Ecuador, at a regional summit, Mr Chavez said he was fulfilling his "moral duty'' by telling fellow leaders that the "winds of war were beginning to blow,'' because of the July...

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela's garrulous President Hugo Chavez on Thursday began a marathon four-day edition of his trademark television show to mark 10 years since the influential and widely watched program first hit the airwaves. Chavez is a tireless talker who uses frequent television appearances to make policy announcements, berate opponents and even sing during rambling speeches often delivered in the florid vernacular of working class Venezuelans. Normally transmitted on Sundays from a different corner of the South American oil exporting nation each week, 'Alo Presidente' is the boisterous socialist's favorite forum, with the program once running to eight hours....

CARACAS, Venezuela – A leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez has decided to seek political asylum abroad rather than face a corruption charge in a trial he says would be stacked against him, an ally said Monday. Opposition leader Manuel Rosales, who went into hiding three weeks ago, decided not to appear in court Monday because the case against him is being used for "political persecution," said Omar Barboza, who heads Rosales' political party. "He won't present himself before a court that's been turned into a political tool," Barboza told reporters. "When there's a state of law in Venezuela, Manuel...

The vandalizing of a Caracas synagogue late Friday only underscores the feeling of growing anti-Semitic sentiment in the South American nation, Jewish community members said over the weekend. The words 'Jew dog assassins' and 'terrorist' and a swastika-defaced Star of David appear in spray paint in Caracas, Venezuela, last week. Slideshow: Pictures of the week A group of people - reports run as high as 15 - broke into Caracas's Sephardic synagogue late on Friday, held the guard at gunpoint, wreaked havoc on the building and damaged the Torah scrolls. Before leaving at around 3 a.m., the vandals scrawled "Death...

During the five-year bonanza of rising oil prices, resource nationalism took hold across Latin America, and energy-producing countries boosted spending, raised taxes on foreign oil companies and salted away billions in petrodollars. But with the onset of the global economic crisis and the collapse in oil prices, Venezuela, Mexico and other regional energy producers are feeling the squeeze. If prices don’t rebound soon, the countries will be forced to cut spending on popular programs or dig into their reserves. Governments also will probably see slowdowns or cancellations of energy pro-jects ranging from explorations to biofuels plants. "The old assumptions are...

CARACAS, Venezuela — For the better part of a decade, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has spent billions of dollars of his country's oil revenue to challenge U.S. interests, build influence around the world and fund a self-styled socialist revolution at home. Yet as Chavez moves from one international crisis to another— most recently a near military confrontation with neighboring Colombia , an important U.S. ally— many wonder how long his oil-funded wild ride will last. Not long, analysts in Venezuela and abroad said, if production continues to decline at the country's state-run energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. , known...

Sunday's defeat likely to hurt Chavez's international standing By Pablo Bachelet, McClatchy Newspapers Mon Dec 3, 7:20 PM ET WASHINGTON — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's stunning loss in a constitutional referendum Sunday has dealt a severe and possibly fatal blow to his ambitions to spread his political ideology and succeed Fidel Castro as the leader of Latin America's anti-American left, analysts and U.S. officials said Monday. Few analysts were willing to bet that Chavez won't recover and try again to strengthen his grip on power in Venezuela . But the rejection of his proposed constitutional changes hurt Chavez because it...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Soldiers used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter tens of thousands who massed Thursday to protest constitutional reforms that would permit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely. Led by university students, protesters chanted "Freedom! Freedom!" and warned that 69 amendments drafted by the Chavista-dominated National Assembly would violate civil liberties and derail democracy. It was the biggest turnout against Chavez in months, and appeared to revive Venezuela's languid opposition at a time when the president seems as strong as ever. Students promised more street demonstrations over the weekend, but no opposition-led...

Israel's Ministry of Defense and some of the country's leading industry executives repeatedly squashed Venezuelan bids to buy high-resolution commercial satellite imagery. According to a lawsuit filed July 2 in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Venezuela's potential procurement deals were sabatoged twice and more recently a personal offer by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to buy a significant equity stake in ImageSat International (ISI), a local satellite operating firm, was ignored. In their lawsuit, the ISI minority shareholders accuse major investors and the firm's current management of "spurning lucrative ... opportunities in Venezuela in order to devalue the company [Imagesat]."...